Pirelli
Location: Milan, Lombardy, Italy Founded: 1872 Founder: Giovanni Battista Pirelli Key People: Ning Gaoning (Chairman) Marco Tronchetti Provera (Executive Vice Chairman and CEO) Owners: ChemChina (45.5%) Marco Tronchetti Provera (10.1%) Employees: 31,489 More About The Manufacturer: Founded in Milan in 1872 by Giovanni Battista Pirelli, the company initially specialized in rubber and derivative processes and also made scuba diving rebreathers. Thereafter, Pirelli's activities were primarily focused on the production of tires and cables (for energy and telecommunications). In 2005, Pirelli sold its cable division to Goldman Sachs, which changed the new group's name to Prysmian. In the 1950s, Alberto Pirelli commissioned the building of a skyscraper, Pirelli Tower, in the same Milanese area that housed the very first Pirelli factory during the 19th century. In 1974, Pirelli invented the "wide radial tire", upon a request from the Lancia rally racing team for a tire strong enough to withstand the power of the new Lancia Stratos. At that time, racing tires were either slick tires made with the cross-ply technique (very wide tires with a reduced sidewall height), or radial tires, which were too narrow to withstand the Stratos' power and did not provide enough grip. Both were unusable for the Lancia Stratos, as the radials were destroyed within 10 km, and the slicks too stiff. Lancia asked Pirelli for a solution, and in 1975 Pirelli created a wide tire with a reduced sidewall height like a slick, but with a radial structure. Subsequently, Porsche started using the same tires with the Porsche 911 Turbo. In 1988, Pirelli acquired the Armstrong Rubber Company, which was headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, for $190 million. In 2000, Pirelli sold its terrestrial fiber optic cables business to Cisco and its optical components operations to Corning, for 5 billion euros. It invested – through Olimpia -part of the resulting liquidity to become a majority shareholder in Telecom Italia in 2001, maintaining this position until 2007. In 2002 the company started a range of Pirelli branded clothing, watches and eyewear. In 2005, Pirelli sold its Cables, Energy Systems and Telecommunications assets to Goldman Sachs and the newly formed company was named Prysmian. In the same year, 2005, Pirelli opened its first tire production plant in Shandong province, China. This was the beginning of the group's production complex in the country. In 2006, Pirelli chose Slatina for its first tire production plant in Romania, extending the facility in 2011. In 2010, Pirelli completed its conversion to a pure tire company by selling Pirelli Broadband Solutions and spinning off the real estate assets of Pirelli Re. Fondazione Pirelli was established in the same year to safeguard and celebrate the company's past and to promote business culture as an integral part of Italy's national cultural assets. In March 2015, it was announced that Pirelli shareholders had accepted a €7.1 billion bid from ChemChina, together with Camfin and LTI, for the company. The transaction was completed and the company was delisted in November 2015. In May 2017, it was announced that Pirelli returns to the world of cycling with a new road cycling tire range, Pzero Velo. In September 2017, the company announced the will to sell up to 40 percent of its equity capital in an initial public offering as it plans to return to the Milan stock exchange in October.28 In March 2019 Pirelli announced a new range of mountain biking tires, called Scorpion. For the iRacing service, Pirelli tires are mostly found on the Kia Optima GX and the 2 F1 cars in the sim. The Pirelli Tires is on other cars in the service too. Category:European Tire Manufacturers Category:Italian Tire Manufacturers Category:Tire Manufacturers